Seventeen

??:?? PM, ????day, March ??th, 2013

The dragon’s breath rolled over them like a burning tide, and the dragon’s roar engulfed the world with a bone-shaking rumble. Then, suddenly, silence returned, deafening and complete. The world was still and empty around them. Gabriella’s thoughts raced round and round, ricocheting off of each other and the interior of her skull.

Why aren’t we burning to death? she wondered. What happened to the slicing claws and rending teeth? Where’d the dragon go?